Single Stat System

Chapter 16: Illusion Forest

"G-golden Key?" Sakim asked with a frown. Indeed, some boxes in some games needed a key to be opened. He never thought that it was also the same in this world.

Sakim tried to look for the remains of the Hidden Boss hoping that he could find a Golden Key but to his dismay, there was nothing else he could find. He really wondered where could he find that Golden Key.

Shaking his head in dismay, and as there was nothing else he needed to look from the System, Sakim swung his [Rusty Sword] to the midair as he prepared himself for the hunt. The System then vanished as well as it felt that Sakim didn't need it in the meantime.

After aimlessly swinging his sword multiple times, he then stopped and turned his gaze to a certain direction, and made a step forward trying to venture into the woods.

But he'd just made a few steps when he recalled something that made him slap his forehead.

He just recalled about the 'Quest' function of the System.

This was the very reason why he wanted to level up to at least level 5 in the first place. How could he forget something like that? He really wondered if he still had a sharp memory that he had in his past life.

But knowing as well that there was no use blaming himself, Sakim summoned the System by saying, "Quest."

[Quest.]

Beginner's Village

Head north and start your journey to the beginner's village, Wolf Village. By accepting the quest, you will receive the World Map and unlock the map function.

Rewards: 100 copper coins. Class Change Scroll.

[Do you want to accept?] (Yes/Later)

"..."

"So I cannot say no to this quest huh..." Sakim muttered to himself. But he wasn't going to reject it anyway so what was the point of doing it later?

Only lazy people would tend to do the work later.

With that, Sakim said "yes" to the System. And immediately after that, the window notification popped up saying,

[You've accepted the Quest. You've received a World Map and unlocked the Map function.]

Nodding in satisfaction, Sakim immediately looked for the Map function by saying "World Map" for he already was itching to go to the beginner's village already.

But just by taking a glance at it, Sakim's face couldn't help but darken as he failed to find a word to speak at that moment. What obstructed his view was something he had never expected.

The "World Map" he'd received only covered a radius of 100 meters and all the remaining parts were all dark. And it seemed that the entire map was yet to be fully revealed as only a portion of it were seemed to be shown on the map.

Even the mentioned beginner's village was nowhere in sight as only a lake of trees inside the hundred radii was shown on the map. Something like a compass representing the four directions was also there, displaying leisurely on the right bottom. How could he possibly find the beginner's village? Just by heading north?

Sakim turned his gaze to the north only to see endless woods. He really wondered how far this beginner's village really was.

Taking a deep breath to tolerate the annoying System, Sakim made a step forward as he told himself that this was just a challenge and would be overcome with some patience. He might encounter as well some fortune on his way to the beginner's village.

With that in mind, Sakim managed to satisfy himself with his current situation and started his journey instead.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Every stride he made echoed in the silent surroundings accompanied by a blow of the wind rustling the leaves.

However, he already walked for about 10 minutes but there were still no monsters that could be found. There were also no materials such as herbs, fruits or sort of that caught his eyes and were possibly be a material recognized by the System.

But one thing he discovered was that the dark area of the map was vanishing as he went on to that dark place shown on the map. By the time, he had already revealed another hundred meters radius on the map as he couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.

Sakim tried to zoom out the map by thinking about it as he heaved a sigh of relief seeing that it was possible.

However, he just found out that the area he'd just opened was so small and was only a tiny dot in the midst of the map filled with darkness. He couldn't help but fall into deep thought thinking how wide this world was. But with the darkness filling the entire map, he couldn't put any conjecture at all.

Sighing deeply, he dismissed the System as he focused himself on his venture and prepared for the monsters that would possibly come out.

"!"

After a few more minutes, Sakim halted his steps as he narrowed his eyes towards a certain tree with a boulder just beneath it.

If one wondered why, it was only because he'd already walked past through it a few times already. It was as if he kept going back.

He looked behind to see the way he walked into but seeing that there was nothing strange, he retracted his gaze and continued his journey.

However, just after a few more minutes of walking, what obstructed his view was the certain tree from before with the boulder beneath it. He already knew that something was wrong in this place. It was just that, he tried to ignore it to see if he could escape from this place that he couldn't leave.

So instead of walking forward, he turned around and went back from the way he took. But after a few more minutes, the tree from before and the boulder beneath it obstructed his view.

"Just what the heck is happening here...?"

He then summoned the System to look for the map and sure enough, he didn't change position at all. He was still on the same spot.

Sakim felt a chill when he thought that he was trapped in this place he knew nothing about. Yes, he was safe for now since there was no monster around but how about later? It couldn't be guaranteed that there would be no monster coming out in all time. Or probably, there were already some monsters around that he still yet to notice, and were just watching him, trying for an ambush.

The more he thought about it, the more cautious he got. He then, fixed his gaze to the boulder under the tree as he felt something strange on it.

Sakim walked closer onto it after some thought. The boulder was tall enough to be half taller than him. But taking a closer look at it now, Sakim noticed that there was some sort of engravings on the surface of the stone boulder.

It was an unfamiliar word that he never encountered before. Even in his past life, there was no such language that was similar to this.

Sakim looked again to his surroundings in wary but seeing that there was still nothing wrong and no traces of monsters around, Sakim shifted back his gaze to the stone boulder with his eyes narrowed a little, trying to peer what was that strange boulder really was.

After some thought, he slowly reached his hand towards the stone boulder and to his surprise, the moment his hand touched the surface of the stone boulder, the System appeared on its own once again. That being said, some kind of information was displayed on the screen,

[Heartstone - Illusion Forest]

Wolf Village

"!"

Sakim widened his eyes on what he just saw as he couldn't help but mutter in disbelief, "A Heartstone?!"

From the looks of it, it seemed like this stone boulder was actually the teleportation stone mentioned in the knowledge Sakim had received. It was just that, it looked quite different from the details he learned.

And this Heartstone was positioned in... Illusion Forest? Sakim was doubtful on his conjectures. Was this place called Illusion Forest? But from the looks of it, of which he was going back and forth on the same place, it was highly likely that this place was really called the Illusion Forest.

But what surprised him the most was the place written under the [Heartstone - Illusion Forest]. It was actually the place to where he was heading into, Wolf Village.

He was still worrying about how could he get to that place but from the looks of it now, it appeared that there was actually a teleportation stone waiting for him so that he could go in there without breaking a sweat.

Sakim really felt excited this time as a smile of relief escaped on his lips.

So without further delay, he then said, "Wolf Village!"

[Do you want to teleport to Wolf Village?]

"What's the point of asking?" Sakim was displeased this time as he continued, "Yes!"

"!"

[Not enough coins. You need 10,000 copper coins to use the Heartstone.]

"What the heck..." This time, Sakim really didn't know whether he should really cry. Was the System really joking with him? 10,000 copper coins? Where the heck would he get that kind of money?!

The quest he just got would only reward him 100 copper coins if completed but this Heartstone was actually asking him for 10,000 copper coins? This must be a scam!

But thinking about it now more clearly, in some RPG games, there was really a fee when using the Heartstone so perhaps, it was only natural for this world to have a fee as well. Though it wasn't mentioned on his knowledge he received, it wasn't too difficult to guess about it. The System might probably expect him that he already knew about this fee since it was pretty obvious that there was no such thing as free lunch.

But Sakim really had no money right now, so how could he possibly get it and use the Heartstone?

By slaying monsters?

"!"

"Wait..." Sakim thought. "Slaying monsters?" Indeed, he could slay monsters to gain some money. It was just that there were no traces of monsters around. Or perhaps, he just did not notice it yet since they were hiding themselves very well.

With that in mind, Sakim focused his attention on his surroundings very intently as he finally noticed that something really was amiss.

Sure enough, there were really monsters around but it seemed like they had no intention of attacking. The monsters were very hard to notice since just like what he expected, they were plant-type monsters.

Sakim felt that as for now, those monsters wouldn't bring any hostile action against him but once he made a move against them, he was more than sure that a battle would very likely begin. If that was really the case, then he should grab the chance to attack them one by one.